Expandable and retractable disposable glove

ABSTRACT

A disposable plastic film glove is provided with a reduced dimension in all directions of the wearer&#39;s hand from the distal phalanges to the carpal region portion in order to provide a tight fit around the wearer&#39;s hand for multiple uses.

This invention relates generally to disposable gloves. More particularly, to a disposable thermoplastic glove having integral means for achieving a tight fit around the wearer's entire hand for multiple uses by expanding and contracting to the pre-use dimensions after each use.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Disposable plastic gloves are well known in the art. Such gloves are inexpensive to manufacture and are widely used by people whose hands may come in contact with substances that are either unpleasant or which may cause some discoloration of the skin. The plastic, disposable gloves presently on the market are, for the most part, ambidextrous, so that a single die and heat-sealing apparatus may be used to form gloves that may be worn on either hand. The gloves, of course, are not form fitting but this is generally not a handicap since the material used for the gloves, that is a thermoplastic sheet, is relatively thin and does not hinder in any way the grasping action of the wearer.

However, it has been found that because the gloves are ambidextrous and because generally only one or perhaps two sizes are made and must accommodate a whole range of hand sizes, the loose fit around the distal phalanges to the carpal region portion of the user is somewhat uncomfortable. In the art generally relating to gloves there are many examples of attempts having been made to rectify this condition. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,509,060 and 3,119,118 disclose the use of elastic means for reducing the size of the wrist portion of rubber and woven fabric gloves, respectively. U.S. Pat. Nos. 692,703 and 2,378,773 relate to rubber gloves having elastic wrist portions of a special configuration that provide for tight fit around the wearer's wrist. U.S. Pat. No. 3,681,784 relate to a tight fitting glove around the wearer's wrist.

Thermoplastic gloves having wrist-holding portions are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,884,643, 2,970,317 and 3,088,118. In U.S. Pat. No. 2,970,317, an elastic shining is secured to the topside of the glove. U.S. Pat. No. 2,884,643 also describes the use of a shirred elastic strip added to the glove for the same purpose. U.S. Pat. No. 3,088,118 relates to the method of connecting an elastic band to the wrist portion of a thermoplastic glove in order to provide a tight fit on the user's hand. Finally, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,083,935 and 3,681,784 discloses a glove having generally the same configuration as the invention that will be described hereinafter. However, it is to be noted that the last mentioned Patents teach primarily the use of heat retarding elements in a canvas glove and form fitting around the wearer's wrist, respectively. No provisions are made for a tight fit around the wearer's entire hand from the distal phalanges to the carpal region portion, there does not appear to be any appreciation by the patentee of either the need for or the desirability of providing a glove that will result in a tight fit around the wearer's the distal phalanges to the carpal region portion.

By way of contrast, the present invention provides an ambidextrous glove that may be made from thermoplastic sheet material such as polyethylene of different densities and a hybrid thereof. Conventional forming and heat-sealing means are used to provide the finger and thumb stalls as well as the metacarpal portion. Intermediate the gauntlet portion and the metacarpal portion there is an area of reduced size that requires stretching in order for the user to insert his hand. In an alternative embodiment the area of reduced size is achieved by offset recesses on each side edge of the glove.

While the sheet material that is used for the low cost disposable gloves is not primarily elastic, it does have some inherent resiliency and will stretch when a hand is inserted. The limited resiliency of the material through out the distal phalanges to the carpal region portion returns towards its original position and thereby form a tight fit around the wearer's entire hand. The present invention is particularly distinguished over gloves which are molded with a neck-down portion that provide the snug fit about the wearer's wrist. Such a glove is of the type shown in the E. S. Smith U.S. Pat. No. 2,886,824 mentioned briefly hereinabove. The present invention distinguishes over the Smith Patent in that it is of substantially lower cost, is disposable, is substantially thinner and is not inherently elastic.

Accordingly, it is a primary object of this present invention to provide an improved low cost disposable glove having a width, length and height.

Another important object of the present invention is to provide a glove as described above that is ambidextrous and which includes integral means for assuring a snug fit about the wearer's entire hand including the distal phalanges to the carpal region portion.

An advantage of the present invention is that it may be manufactured with existing equipment requiring a bare minimum of change thereto.

A feature of this invention is that the heat-sealable thermoplastic film used is lightweight and very thin—being in the order of 0.04 to 0.08 mm thick. These and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will, in part, be pointed out with particularity and will, in part, become obvious from the following more detailed description of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing which forms an integral part thereof.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

In the various Figures of the drawing like reference characters designate like parts. In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of one embodiment of the present invention with a portion partially broken away;

FIG. 2 is a transverse sectional view taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary plan view, similar to FIG. 1, illustrating an alternative embodiment of this invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

One embodiment of the glove 10 comprising the present invention is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawing. The glove 10 is comprised of two superimposed layers of thermoplastic sheeting 12 and 14. Conventional means well known in the art are used to heat seal the sheet 12 and 14 to each other along the periphery thereof except along the edge 16 through which the hand is inserted. The present invention contemplates the use of currently available thermoplastic sheeting such as polyethylene or polyvinyl chloride or the like. However, as other materials become known, they may be used providing they can be sealed to each other either by heat or other means so as to assure a moisture proof glove. In this connection, while the term “glove” is used to describe the article, it should be clearly noted that it is used only in its generic sense and thus includes the use of the present invention as a mitten.

The present invention is particularly directed to thermoplastic sheeting that is very thin and very flexible. The preferred thickness range for the material used in the present invention is between 0.04 mm to 0.08 mm. Further, while different means may be used to join the two opposed layers of thermoplastic sheeting, it is presently preferred to use a heat sealing method that is particularly adapted to high speed production which will assure a low unit cost per glove.

The glove 10 illustrated in FIG. 1 comprises four finger stalls, 18, 20, 22 and 24 and a thumb stall 26. There is also provided a metacarpal portion 28 and a gauntlet portion 30. Intermediate the metacarpal portion 28 and the gauntlet portion 30 there is provided a wrist section 32 of substantially reduced width as compared to either the gauntlet portion 30 or the metacarpal portion 28. The wrist section 32 is defined by recesses 34 and 36 formed at the side edges of the glove 10. That is, the dimension designated 32 a is substantially less than either of the dimensions designated 28 a or 30 a.

It will be appreciated that as the user inserts his hand, the yieldable plastic sheets 12 and 14 will stretch in the wrist section 32. With the user's hand fully inserted, the plastic material will tend to return to its original size. Since the gloves comprising this invention are intended to be disposable, it is not important if the material takes a set, becomes distorted or is otherwise unusable a second time. However, the characteristics of the material are such that it will return to approximately its original shape at least once and thereby provide a snug fit around the wearer's distal phalanges to the carpal region portion.

It has been found that a snug fit can be achieved by offsetting the recesses 34′ and 36′ as shown in FIG. 3. By spacing the axes X and Y of the recesses 34′ and 36′, respectively, the tension on the plastic sheet resulting from insertion of the user's hand is somewhat reduced.

There has been described hereinabove and illustrated in the drawing a low cost ambidextrous glove that is moisture proof and which provides a tight fit about the wearer's distal phalanges to the carpal region portion without resorting to the addition of an elastic material such as used in the prior art. The gloves of this invention provides a snug fit about the wearer's distal phalanges to the carpal region portion.

There has been disclosed heretofore the best embodiment of the invention presently contemplated. However, it is to be understood that various changes and modifications may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention. 

1. A disposable glove comprising: A. a pair of stretchable, thermoplastic sheets, heat sealed to each other for defining a finger receiving portion, a metacarpal portion and a wrist portion, having a width, length, and height; B. said wrist portion having a width dimension less than that of the metacarpal portion, C. a single recess formed in each side edge of the glove between said metacarpal portion and said wrist portion for defining a reduced width dimension of the wrist portion, D. whereby the finger receiving portion to the carpal region portion returns to approximately its original size in the width, height, and length after the glove is stretched by the insertion of the user's hand to thereby form a snug fit about the user's hand after multiple uses.
 2. The article according to claim 1, wherein the sheets have a thickness between 0.4 mm to 0.08 mm.
 3. The article according to claim 1, wherein the finger receiving portion returns to the approximately original size after the glove is stretched by the insertion of the user's hand to thereby form a snug fit about the user's wrist after a single use.
 4. The article according to claim 1, wherein the metacarpal portion returns to the approximately original size after the glove is stretched by the insertion of the user's hand to thereby form a snug fit about the user's wrist after a single use.
 5. The article according to claim 1, wherein the wrist portion returns to the approximately original size after the glove is stretched by the insertion of the user's hand to thereby form a snug fit about the user's wrist after a single use. 